A new decade.

I turned 30.  Yup.  A new decade.

I remember thinking that 30 was sooooooooo old.  I don't really feel old.  Most days anyway.  Heh.

So anyway.  The Hubster set up a sitter and took me out to a nice restaurant.  It was a few hours of pure bliss.  I love my children dearly, but I also love my husband.  Spending a couple of hours without any real interruptions was awesome.

And so is my iTouch.

As will be my hours at the spa.

So far 30 isn't so bad.

Road Trip

So I took the girls and drove about 1800 miles in a week.  Fortunately my sister kept me company.  Pretty sure we all wouldn't have made it back in one piece had she decided to fly.  Or drive by herself.  Or just walk to avoid a loooooong drive with two kids two and under.  And me.  Heh.

It was a hectic trip, but so glad we were able to celebrate my cousin gettin' hitched ;)

Here are some of the highlites.

We met up with friends that we haven't seen in a long time.  The girls are just a couple of days apart in age.

We got to hang out with Auntie!

I got dressed up and spent time with my family.  This handsome guy is my little brother.

We went to the beach.

And ate mud.  Mmmmm.

Got some adorable bloomers embroidered by my beautiful cousin at Sweet Scarlett Tutus!

And Little One ate her first "piece of pizza."

Oh and did I mention we did a lot of driving?

Birthdays & Hooter Hiders

I have a dear friend who is turning the big 3-0 today!  She has an adorable new baby.  Her toddler just celebrated her 2nd birthday.  They sold their house.  And they are moving.  Talk about a big month! 

Here we are feeding our munchkins.  

I usually use a much cuter cover but it was dirty.

So she has mentioned in the past that she wanted a bigger cover.  I decided to make one for her.  Hope it was longer!  HA!  It was my first attempt.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

What do you think?

The Future Hokie?

Well, it fits!  And it should for some time.  That is another great thing about this simple nightgown! 

Maybe a future Hokie?  Time will tell!

Goooooooo Hokies!

So Big One is seriously lacking in the Summer Bed Clothes department.  Her room is pretty warm, and we have loads of Winter pajamas, but really nothing for Summer.

So I decided to give my friend's tutorial a try.  She is a much more experienced sewer than I am.  But she swore this was pretty simple.  It was. 

So here was my inspiration!  Go check it out!

And here was my final product!

Gooooooo Hokies!

I sure hope it fits!  Guess we will find out tomorrow!!  Fingers crossed!

Before & After

Remember how I told you Hubby has been pretty busy outside?  He has done an incredible job changing our landscaping.  It was overwhelming for the two of us, neither with a particularly green thumb. 

I wish we had taken better before pictures.  Oh well.  So here is the front landscaping before.

The start of the giant island to the right.  Massive!

Part of the giant island to the right!

This mess what an island connecting the right of the landscaping!  It was huge!  And ugly!

These azaleas weren't the end of the world, just not what I wanted!

Boxwoods and ugliness!

So, like I said, not great pics.  We were actually posting them for free on Craigslist and FreeCycle to anyone that wanted to dig them out.  Unfortunately, Hubster ended up chopping them all down. 

It was just too much.  We don't have that kind of time.  The weeds were out of control.  There were random strawberry bushes in that mess too.  They weren't producing because the rest of the ground cover was choking it out.  And a couple random rose bushes that were also being crowded out.  It was a giant mess that made our house look messy too.

So after many hours in the hot sun, Husbster finished!  We made the landscaped area smaller on the right side of the house and around the tree by the walk way.  Again, just too much for us.

So now we have eight beautiful white hydrangeas that are already starting to bloom!!  Hubster laid sod in the areas we needed it.  Put down a layer of newspaper, weedblock, and Organic mulch in hopes that the weeds won't come back.  Fingers crossed.

This is off to the right side... it used to be attached to the giant island of landscaping!

Sorry it is fuzzy!

See the ring around the tree is smaller?  No ugly boxwoods? 

So much simpler!  Love it!

So happy with the way it turned out!

And then, yesterday, Hubster built a raised garden for our veggies!  I know, it is way late in the season, but hopefully we got them in the ground fast enough!  We are trying to grow Roma Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Cauliflower, Basil, and Rosemary.  I can't wait!

The herbs are off to the right in the containers.

So, my friends.  That is what has been keeping us all busy and soaking up some Vitamin D!

Five Years

Five years ago tonight I was having a really bad week.  I was going to have a great weekend, goshdarnit!

I called one of my girlfriends and she agreed to dinner at my favorite restaurant and then going from "bar to bar until someone catches my eye."

Dinner was yummy.  We were on our way to Bar #1 when we ran into a friend inviting us to a different bar.  A bar that I hated.  We went.  We chatted.  On our way out my girlfriend spotted a friend of a friend.  As they chatted I chatted with that guys friend.  Good thing he was cute.

They followed us to the next bar.  He walked me to my car. 

I saw him every single day from that point on.

Then he proposed.

Four months later we were married. 

Guess it is a good thing we went to that bar I hated so much, huh?  Funny thing is he hated that bar too.

Here is one of our first (maybe even our first?) pictures together from one of our first dates.  One of the best nights of I've ever had.  I knew he was it.  Even after a few days...

What do you DO all day?

I stole this from a friend of mine who posted it on Facebook. 

Please ignore the language.

So for you folks that are curious... This is what I do all day.

I could swear....

I posted another blog since this last one.  Am I losing my mind?  Heh.  I very well might be.

Anyway...

I have been cooking and baking a lot.  My goal is to make more snacks for my family so we are buying less processed stuff.  Hubster brings lunch/dinner to work each day, so depending on how snacky he is feeling we go through them quickly.
Big One is also allergic to peanuts, so we can't buy a lot of the normal kid snacks.  We just don't want them in the house.  Just in case.

My girlfriend brought these Yummy Baked Granola Bars over for a playdate.  I cut back on the brown sugar (1/2c) and skipped the raisins.  They were awesome.

Then I decided to try a Chewy Granola Bar.  I have substituted the corn syrup for honey and agave with very yummy results.  I use whatever I have.  I also change out the peanut butter for almond butter.  These are great because you can put whatever you want.  I really like almond pieces and chocolate chips.

I have also been trying out some of Pioneer Woman Recipes.  Amazingly delicious.  Not so figure friendly.  Consider yourself warned!  Her Sloppy Joes are in regular rotation.  My Hubster asks for them weekly.  I like to try lots of new recipes so it is hard for me to commit to "Sloppy Joe Tuesdays" but we eat them a lot.  And I recently fell in loooooooove  with her Lemon Blueberry Pancakes.  I could eat them daily.  Yum!

I really do love to cook.  I love to bake.  I love to feed people.  And I love to eat.  Heh.  (Probably why I can't shed the rest of this baby weight!!)

I have also done a little bit of sewing.  And I have loads more to do.

Finally,  we (read: the Hubster) have been doing a lot of yard work in the last few weeks.  We are really not gardeners.  There was quite a bit of landscaping in the front yard.  Most of which we had no idea what it was.  Weeds everywhere.  I'm talking like Jack and the Beanstalk weeds.  So with a little pushing... we got rid of it all.  We made the area significantly smaller.  Planted beautiful white hydrangeas (at least I hope they are beautiful).  Put down loads of newspaper and weedblock.  Rocks will go next.  No.More.Mulch!  Horray!!

Of course I have no pictures for you.  None.  I can't believe we don't have a pic of the front of the house?!  I'll take some.  Promise.

For now I'll leave you with my adorable kiddos.

 Little One sitting up!

 Happy Memorial Day!

Big One playing in the sprinkler!